Chapter 2: Office Procedures - Setting Up the SL E-mail Alias
Update: This section was written before the ucsim@uc.edu email alias was created. We now use both addresses, so the same instructions will also apply to the ucsim@uc.edu email address. Please see your supervisor if you have any questions.
The e-mail address for the UC Second Life Project is secondlife@uc.edu. We use this address for many different purposes, including our customers' inquires and requests for support. This e-mail address is also copied (cc:) any time a user creates a Second Life account through our website, or when web services related to the project send or receive messages (such as when a new person follows UCSecondLife on Twitter).
It will take some time before you are familiar with the various kinds of communications that come in to secondlife@uc.edu , but once you have received training and approval from the project manager or team lead, you will be able to respond to most support questions. The information below will help you become familiar with the processes we use to respond to various e-mail types.
(Note: You should have already created a Gmail account using your first.last avatar name in the Getting Started section. If you have not done so, please complete that section before continuing.)
E-mail the project manager from your Gmail account to let the manager know the account has been created. The project manager will add your e-mail address to the secondlife@uc.edu e-mail alias, and send you a confirmation message.
Set up Gmail to send mail from the UC Second Life Project
It is important that people can identify e-mail communications sent from the team as opposed to appearing as if they come from a personal account. We also want to make sure that any replies or follow up questions also go back to to the e-mail alias and not to your personal account. Therefore, you will need to set up your Gmail account so that you can send e-mail messages that appear as if they are coming from secondlife@uc.edu instead of your first.last@gmail.com address.
This video gives a brief overview of the steps (see below for step-by-step instructions):
You cannot begin this process until your new e-mail address has been added to secondlife@uc.edu alias, so be sure to look for your confirmation e-mail from the project manager before beginning this step. To set up Gmail for sending e-mail from the UCSL Project:
Go to your Gmail inbox page and click the "Settings" link on the upper right side of the page.
Click the "Accounts & Import" link at the top of the Settings page.
Under the "Send Mail As:" section, click the "Send mail from another address" button.
In the window that pops up, enter the Name: UC Second Life Project and the e-mail address secondlife@uc.edu . Click the "Next Step" button.
The next window will tell you that you must verify your access to secondlife@uc.edu. Click the "Send Verification" button.
You will receive an e-mail message to the secondlife@uc.edu e-mail alias with your verification code. Paste that code into the verification window provided by Gmail, and you will be all set!
General E-mail Policies & Guidelines
After you have your Gmail account set up to properly respond to incoming e-mail, be sure to follow the following policies and guidelines when responding to customers.
1. Respond to e-mail within 24 hours during regular business days. Any e-mail requesting support or assistance should be answered within 24 hours during the normal business week. Please remember: Until you have received approval from the project manager, your e-mail responses will be reviewed by staff before they are sent to customers.
2. Send replies from the UC Second Life Project e-mail address, with a bcc: to the alias. Send all messages to, from, or about the UC Second Life project using the "UC Second Life Project" address in your Gmail client. Always "blind carbon copy" (bcc:) the secondlife@uc.edu e-mail address in your message so that everyone on the team can see when and how an inquiry has been answered.
3. Use a Standard Signature
All correspondence related to the UC Second Life project should include a standard signature in the following format:
Your RL Name (SL: Your Avatar's First and Last Name)
Center for Simulations & Virtual Environments Research (UCSIM)
UCIT Instructional & Research Computing
University of Cincinnati
406A Zimmer Hall
315 College Drive
PO BOX 210088
Cincinnati, OH 45221-0088
(513) 556-8562 ucsim@uc.edu http://ucsim.uc.edu
You may wish to create a notepad file on your computer desktop that contains this signature, customized with your real name and Second Life names, for easy copying and pasting. Unfortunately, Gmail does not allow you to set an automatic signature for some e-mail messages and not others. If you only use your Gmail account for UC Second Life Project work, you can set up an automatic signature in the Settings area, but if you use your Gmail account for both work and personal correspondence, you will need to manually paste the signature at the end of your messages from the UC Second Life Project team.
4. E-mail Requiring No Further Action
Some e-mail sent to secondlife@uc.edu requires no response. Some examples include the following:
Account Creation Notification: Every time a user creates a new Second Life account through our website, we receive a receipt of the transaction. In the past, we had to manually enroll each user in the "University of Cincinnati Affiliated" group in Second Life, but the new registration process does this for us. These receipts are merely informational and require no action on our part.
Twitter Notifications - Follow Notices: The UCSecondLife Twitter account receives a notice whenever a new person follows the account. These e-mail messages from Twitter require no action.
Group Invitations from Second Life: We use several administrative accounts in Second Life to manage functions and activities on our virtual campus. These SL accounts have the secondlife@uc.edu e-mail address listed in their profiles, and from time to time we receive a notice from Second Life when one of these accounts is invited to join a group or a class. These notices require no action.
Chapter 2: Office Procedures - Setting Up the SL E-mail Alias
Update: This section was written before the ucsim@uc.edu email alias was created. We now use both addresses, so the same instructions will also apply to the ucsim@uc.edu email address. Please see your supervisor if you have any questions.
The e-mail address for the UC Second Life Project is secondlife@uc.edu. We use this address for many different purposes, including our customers' inquires and requests for support. This e-mail address is also copied (cc:) any time a user creates a Second Life account through our website, or when web services related to the project send or receive messages (such as when a new person follows UCSecondLife on Twitter).
It will take some time before you are familiar with the various kinds of communications that come in to secondlife@uc.edu , but once you have received training and approval from the project manager or team lead, you will be able to respond to most support questions. The information below will help you become familiar with the processes we use to respond to various e-mail types.
(Note: You should have already created a Gmail account using your first.last avatar name in the Getting Started section. If you have not done so, please complete that section before continuing.)
Get added to the secondlife@uc.edu e-mail alias
E-mail the project manager from your Gmail account to let the manager know the account has been created. The project manager will add your e-mail address to the secondlife@uc.edu e-mail alias, and send you a confirmation message.
Set up Gmail to send mail from the UC Second Life Project
It is important that people can identify e-mail communications sent from the team as opposed to appearing as if they come from a personal account. We also want to make sure that any replies or follow up questions also go back to to the e-mail alias and not to your personal account. Therefore, you will need to set up your Gmail account so that you can send e-mail messages that appear as if they are coming from secondlife@uc.edu instead of your first.last@gmail.com address.
This video gives a brief overview of the steps (see below for step-by-step instructions):
You cannot begin this process until your new e-mail address has been added to secondlife@uc.edu alias, so be sure to look for your confirmation e-mail from the project manager before beginning this step. To set up Gmail for sending e-mail from the UCSL Project:
General E-mail Policies & Guidelines
After you have your Gmail account set up to properly respond to incoming e-mail, be sure to follow the following policies and guidelines when responding to customers.
1. Respond to e-mail within 24 hours during regular business days. Any e-mail requesting support or assistance should be answered within 24 hours during the normal business week. Please remember: Until you have received approval from the project manager, your e-mail responses will be reviewed by staff before they are sent to customers.
2. Send replies from the UC Second Life Project e-mail address, with a bcc: to the alias. Send all messages to, from, or about the UC Second Life project using the "UC Second Life Project" address in your Gmail client. Always "blind carbon copy" (bcc:) the secondlife@uc.edu e-mail address in your message so that everyone on the team can see when and how an inquiry has been answered.
3. Use a Standard Signature
All correspondence related to the UC Second Life project should include a standard signature in the following format:
Your RL Name (SL: Your Avatar's First and Last Name)
Center for Simulations & Virtual Environments Research (UCSIM)
UCIT Instructional & Research Computing
University of Cincinnati
406A Zimmer Hall
315 College Drive
PO BOX 210088
Cincinnati, OH 45221-0088
(513) 556-8562
ucsim@uc.edu
http://ucsim.uc.edu
You may wish to create a notepad file on your computer desktop that contains this signature, customized with your real name and Second Life names, for easy copying and pasting. Unfortunately, Gmail does not allow you to set an automatic signature for some e-mail messages and not others. If you only use your Gmail account for UC Second Life Project work, you can set up an automatic signature in the Settings area, but if you use your Gmail account for both work and personal correspondence, you will need to manually paste the signature at the end of your messages from the UC Second Life Project team.
4. E-mail Requiring No Further Action
Some e-mail sent to secondlife@uc.edu requires no response. Some examples include the following:
Continue to Chapter 2 - Office Procedures - Using Shared Google Docs